Human rights violations should not be examined in relative terms

Some interesting posters have been put up in response to a lecture about
human rights violations in the occupied territories by Israel Shahak that
took place on March 1. One reads, "Can you name one Arab country that
treats the Palestinians as well as Israel?"

Whether one can or not -- and I imagine most people have so little
knowledge about Arab countries that they probably don't know whether
Palestinians are treated better in them or not (I believe they are) -- the
question poses an interesting type of logic. In short it says, if we treat
Palestinians better than other countries do, then we are justified in doing
whatever we want, so long as it is a little better than what they do.

Would anyone accept the fact that America is justified in discriminating
against blacks because South Africa is apartheid? Or that a moderate amount
of anti-Semitism is okay because a lot of it goes on in the Soviet Union?

My answer to the question on these posters is who cares? We send billions
of dollars every year to Israel, and we ought not support the type of
treatment people, Palestinian or not, are getting under occupation.